Open today 7 am – 5 pm
Deck Builder · Milton
Pressure-treated, cedar and composite decks, railings and pergolas. Northboard Decks will draw the permit set, dig the footings below the frost line, and build the guards to the height the inspector wants to see.
Serving Milton
About us
Northboard Decks started building decks the way the inspector wants to see them, and never found a reason to stop. Footings go below the frost line, ledgers get flashed and bolted, every fastener is rated for treated lumber, and guards go up at the height the Ontario Building Code calls for. Whether the boards are pressure-treated, cedar or composite, the frame under them is built to outlast them. If the deck you already have can be resurfaced instead of replaced, we will say so.
What we do
Big jobs and small ones, across Milton and the surrounding area.
Brown MicroPro Sienna or green-treated frames and decking, with hot-dipped galvanized hangers and screws rated for treated lumber so the hardware does not rust out before the wood. Joists sized and spaced to the Ontario Building Code span tables, not to whatever was on the truck.
Western red cedar decking and rails on a treated frame, fastened with stainless or coated screws so there is no black staining around every head. We can seal it to hold the colour or leave it to weather to grey, and tell you honestly what each choice costs you in upkeep.
Trex, TimberTech and Fiberon boards laid with hidden fastener clips and joist tape over the framing, at the 12 or 16 inch joist spacing the manufacturer's warranty actually requires. Picture-frame borders and breaker boards so long runs do not end in a ragged line of butt joints.
Aluminum, glass and wood guards built to the heights the Ontario Building Code sets for your deck: 36 inches for decks up to six feet off the ground and 42 inches above that, with openings under four inches. Posts are through-bolted to the frame so the rail does not wobble when someone leans on it.
Cedar and pressure-treated pergolas, louvered aluminum systems and slatted privacy screens, on their own footings or tied into the deck frame properly. Sized so the shade actually falls where you sit in the afternoon, not on the lawn.
Deck stairs cut to code rise and run with a solid landing at the bottom, stringers on a footing rather than sitting on the grass, and a graspable handrail where the code calls for one. Wide steps and built-in benches when you would rather the stairs be part of the deck than an afterthought.
New boards and railings on a frame that is still sound, rotted ledgers reflashed and bolted, and heaved or sunk footings corrected. We probe the joists and beams before quoting so you are not paying to reboard a deck that needs to come down.
Permit drawings and site plan submitted to your municipal building department, Ontario One Call locates cleared, and footings dug four feet below grade in concrete or set on engineered helical piles. Footing, framing and final inspections booked and passed before we send the last invoice.
Need a hand in Milton?
Tell us what the job is and we'll tell you what it takes.
Why choose us
Ask to see any of these before the work starts.
Service area
Northboard Decks covers these towns week in, week out.
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Choose a slot and it goes straight on the schedule. No phone tag.
Pick a time that works. Takes about 30 seconds.
FAQ
Don't see your question? Call and ask. We'd rather answer it on the phone than have you guess.
Under the Ontario Building Code, a deck more than 24 inches above the ground needs a building permit, and most municipalities also want one for any deck attached to the house regardless of height. Even a low deck has to respect your zoning setbacks and lot coverage. We prepare the drawings and site plan, submit them, and meet the inspector for the footing, framing and final inspections. Unpermitted decks are one of the things a buyer's lawyer catches at resale, so it is worth doing properly.
Pressure-treated is the value choice and lasts well if you seal it every couple of years. Cedar looks the best, resists rot naturally, and weathers to grey unless you oil it. Composite like Trex or TimberTech costs roughly two to three times the material price of treated lumber, but it never needs staining and carries a 25 to 50 year warranty, though the darker colours get hot in full sun. We will price two options side by side rather than push one.
In most of southern Ontario, footings go four feet below grade to get under the frost line, usually poured concrete in cardboard tube forms with a wider base. Helical piles are steel screw piles turned in with a machine, installed with a torque reading and an engineer's letter for the permit file. They go in the same day, involve no digging or concrete, and suit tight yards and soft ground. Either way, footings that stop short of frost depth are why old decks heave and their doors stop closing.
Once the deck surface is more than 24 inches above the ground, the Ontario Building Code requires a guard: 36 inches high for decks up to six feet off the ground and 42 inches above that, with no opening a four inch ball can pass through. Tempered or laminated glass panels are fine and keep the view. Horizontal cable railings are often refused by Ontario building departments because they can be climbed, so ask us before you fall in love with them.
Permit approval runs anywhere from a week to six weeks depending on the municipality and the season. Once we start, a typical backyard deck is one to two weeks of building, longer with a pergola, complicated stairs or glass railings. Spring books up early and composite colours can be on backorder, so the best time to get a quote is late winter if you want to be sitting on it by June.
Often, yes. If the joists, beams and posts are solid when we probe them and the footings have not heaved, new decking and railings on the old frame costs a fraction of a rebuild. If the ledger against the house is rotted, the joists are soft, or the frame was built with undersized lumber, resurfacing just puts new boards on a deck that is going to fail, and we will tell you so plainly.
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